Winter 2000 International Artist-in-Residence Program

Double Six

About the artist

Yutaka Sone was born in 1965 in Shizuoka, Japan and currently lives in Tokyo and Los Angeles. He holds a B.F.A. and an M.A. in architecture from Tokyo Geijutsu University. Sone has exhibited his work throughout AsiaRead more

About the exhibition

Yutaka Sone brings together entertainment and art, fiction and fantasy in his Artpace project. His video, Double Six is a tightly orchestrated production, shot in the Texas Hill Country. Sone presents an unlikely vision of a cowboy on a horse chasing a helicopter that carries a pair of enormous dice. As the helicopter flies across the rural landscape, the dice are released and tumble onto the dusty ground. The cowboy rides off into the landscape.

In the exhibition, the video is accompanied by drawings that document the filmmaking process, including a large work on cowhide. The drawings highlight aspects of the Western landscape and the collaborative nature of filmmaking, giving credit to the cast and crew.

Sone is a nomadic artist, and Double Six is certainly informed by the artist’s extensive travels, as well as the dominance of American imagery in media. Western movies, Las Vegas, and surveillance helicopters all merge into one indelible image. Sone observes the ongoing myth and promise of the American frontier and processes it into a humorous, engaging narrative. Sone’s flying dice cleverly exaggerates the idea of chance: in the Western landscape, you win some and you lose some.